Congress should accept C-SPAN's TV debate offer

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, January 8, 2010

The debate over health-care reform has gone on endlessly and doesn't seem ready to end immediately.

President Obama has expressed many times his desire to sign a bill, but there remains the task of melding the Senate and House of Representatives bills into a single acceptable one.

Leadership in both the House and the Senate have indicated they may bypass a formal conference committee in resolving the differences. To us, that sends up a red flag.

C-SPAN, the public's television access to its government, has come forth with a request that we feel should be honored. It has offered to televise all important negotiations and conference committee meetings.

Brian Lamb, the longtime voice of C-SPAN, has written to the leadership of both parties, offering the coverage at C-SPAN's expense, to allow the American public to see up close just what goes on in the negotiation sessions.

To us, this is certainly a no-brainer -- allowing the American public to see its elected officials at work, fashioning legislation that will have a tremendous impact on their lives.

Too often political dealing takes place behind closed doors with the public only informed after the fact and only given the information the crafters wish to reveal.

We don't deny that there have been hundreds of town hall meetings to discuss health-care reform during the past year. We wonder, though, just how many of the 100 senators and 435 representatives have actually read the entire bill and really know its consequences.

It is disingenuous to single out a single lawmaker as being obstructionist over some provision in either the Senate or House bill. We have no quarrel to debating the merits of this or that provision in the legislation -- we just think it ought to be debated in full view of the American public -- the people who sent them to Washington in the first place.

There is little argument for maintaining the status quo on health care -- but it has to be replaced with a workable system, acceptable to all.

We don't think we are alone in wondering what the specific impact will be on every individual and family in the country.

We want to know what it will cost, what coverage we will get and will it indeed improve health care. That's all we ask.

We think CSPAN offers the perfect forum for the debate and see no reason for members of Congress objecting to it.